Re: [Leica] Leica R8 system to enhance an M system

[Ted <tedgrant@home.com>]

SML wrote:

> Hi Ted,
>
>  >>> I once heard from a couple of dealers that the German version of the
> 35-70/3.5 Vario-Elmar is better than the current 35-70/4 in optical
> performance.  Is it true?  <<<<<<<

Hi David,
Sorry I can't comment, as I've never used the f4.0. I do know that my 3.5 is a
very good lens which I use as a general working lens because I can change focal
length quickly and the recorded images have an excellent look to them.

>>>>>>>Some other people also argued that they could not find the same kind of
3D
effects (bokeh) with the R lenses as with the M lenses, which I cannot
agree.<<<<<<<<<

Well you see I never knew what the hell bokeh was until the subject came up on
the LUG and I've never thought about that kind of stuff simply because I always
thought the most important part of taking pictures was the part that was in
focus!

I suppose its a big deal for some folks, but hell I'd much rather folks were
looking at my pictures for the content and impact,  not whether the the out of
focus part was good, bad or ugly!

>>Have you ever noticed that the R lenses could not render the same mood of 3D
effects as the M lenses? <<

Gee, you know I never wondered about stuff like that in my 50 year career as a
professional photographer simply because the bottom line has always been....
"How good the picture was!"

>>>>>I always thought that the R lenses were as good as or even better than the
comparable M lenses.  I normally get better results with the R optics than with
the M optics.<<<<<<<<

I hope you don't think I'm belittling your questions, but this also falls into
something I've never ever thought about.  To me from the beginning of using
Leica equipment, if it was Leica it was the best there was and that was all that
counted. I can very honestly say in all the years of using Leica, must be
somewhere over 40 years now, many of the techie things that appear on the LUG
screen are items I never thought about . Nor still don't think about.

My main concern was / is  to be a damn good photographer with the least amount
of fuss in taking my pictures and the Leica allows me to do that with a quality
I appreciate. So when technical questions are asked, I  apologize simply because
much of  the technical stuff never concerned me the way it does so many LUG/LEG
members.

I'm a photojournalist concerned with capturing moments that have motivated me to
press the shutter release.  How that image is captured and how many thingies the
lens records on the film, I could care less as long as it's the lens that does
the job right!

Bottom line? If the picture is good, bad or ugly 99.9 % of the public and buyers
of photographers and photography could care less if the picture were recorded
with a Leica lens or through a coke bottle bottom!

And that's the real world!  Like it or lump it.

ted